Call Me Steel
by JMD-009
Summary: Something happens on his road trip that changes Xander's destiny.


Call Me Steel By JMD_009 jmd_009@yahoo.ca  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All the characters are owned by the people who own Buffy and the people who own Max Steel  
  
Note: I know a Buffy / Max Steel crossover sounds really weird, but it just wouldn't get out of my head. So I had to write it.  
  
I walk through the halls with a sense of purpose and determination that is rarely associated with me. The people walking by know it too as they move out of my way. Ignoring the whispers and keep going.  
  
I stop as I reach my destination. The path my future will take lies beyond these large oak doors. Truth be told that excites me. And it terrifies me.  
  
As I reach for the door handle I hesitate. With a deep breath the events that lead me here flood my mind.  
  
It happened during my road trip. My journey of discovery. A journey which I almost had to quit when my car broke down in Oxnard.  
  
Luckily I made some quick cash at the 'Fabulous Ladies Club'. But no power of Heaven or Earth, or Hellmouth for that matter, will get that story out of me. Unless they send clowns then it's a whole different story.  
  
Anyways, I started back on the road and, in keeping with my luck, didn't make it very far. See I decided to make a stop in Del Oro Bay, California. It just happens that N-tek, the world's leading manufacture of extreme sports products and sponsor of some of the best teams, was headquartered there.  
  
Not many people know this but I love this stuff. I'm even a pretty good skateboarder if I do say so myself. Or I would be if I spent more time grinding the railings than running into them while staring at a certain blonde.  
  
So when I get there I manage to slip in with tour group made up of local teens. Alright, so it wasn't as easy as I made it sound, but suffice to say I made it in to drool over things I will never be able to afford.  
  
By the time I was heading back to the car night had begun to fall and I felt for the every present stake in my pocket. A nervous habit, but a necessary one living in Sunnydale. I was nearly to my car when I heard someone cry in pain. Not thinking I just ran towards it. What I saw shocked me.  
  
It wasn't the fact that the guy in the dark purple pants and muscle shirt had a mechanical arm. I'd seen weirder I Sunnydale.  
  
It wasn't the two unconscious guards because. well there was a guy with a mechanical arm.  
  
No it was because he was breaking into a tool shed that was being guarded by two armed guards.  
  
Arm boy easily punches down the obviously strong metal door. So of course I charge him. Moments later my body is flying through the air. I don't mind that part; it's the sudden, painful stop that bothers me.  
  
When I finally dragged myself up he was gone. I took a look inside the shed and there at the back was an elevator. For some reason that didn't surprise me. Wiping the blood from my face I followed him down it.  
  
I found myself in some sort of underground complex that was obviously supposed to be a secret. Nobody bothered with me though, with all the chaos caused by the intruder.  
  
I managed to catch up with him in a lab with a large cylinder filled with green goo in the centre of the room. Arm boy was tossing security people left and right. I waited for the right moment and launched a flying kick at him that I have seen Buffy do a thousand times. Unfortunately he blocked and knocked me on my ass again.  
  
"Persistent one aren't you?" He spat as he laughed and turned around.  
  
That just pissed me off. That this guy thought I was so little a threat as to just turn around like I wasn't even there! With a renewed vigour I stood and charged. I spun him around and with all the strength I had I hit him square in the face. Which came off.  
  
I reeled back from the shock as I looked at the twisted smile permanently etched on his metal face. Suddenly my mouth started moving without my brain's permission. "Hello Smiley!"  
  
This just proceeded to piss him off. As he picked my up by my throat I thought 'idiot Jed strikes again'! When he had me eye level he glared at me with inhuman glowing red eyes. Then I once again found myself flying through the air. This time I crashed into the cylinder of green goo, breaking the glass.  
  
As I lay battered on the ground the green goo begins to be absorbed into my body. The pain was more than I could bear. It felt like I was being eaten from the inside out. As it turned out I was.  
  
The last thing I heard before I passed out was the maniacal laughter of Smiley as he casually walked away.  
  
I don't remember much of what happened afterwards. I was slipping in and out of consciousness and the pain was just too much. My only thoughts were that I couldn't die yet. I have so much more to do. So much more to prove. Not just to the others but myself.  
  
One of the few times that I was coherent I found myself in a large room with two metal rings. Sitting in the centre I watched as the rings spun. Suddenly it began to produce this weird green energy. Transphasic energy I would learn later. It felt like being struck by lightning as it hit me. Again I blacked out.  
  
When I woke up I felt completely refreshed. I found out later that a young scientist, no older that me, named Berto Martinez had figure out what was happening. The green goo turned out to be some experimental nano technology called MAX probes. The probes feed off of transphasic energy, without it they turned to the only source of food they had. Me.  
  
So Berto figure that giving me a jolt of transphasic energy would solve the problem. Thankfully he was right.  
  
Over the past few weeks I've been here Berto's probably become one of my closest friends. After some test he explained to me all the things I can now do. And let me tell ya, way cool.  
  
I'm strong and fast enough now that I could give Buffy a run for her money. My senses have been enhanced. I can even see in Infrared! But even cooler than that, I can go invisible. Now that takes a lot of energy, but some interesting scenarios entered my mind when I found out none the less.  
  
All of that is enhanced even further when I go into Turbo mode. It does drain my energy reserves real quick though.  
  
Yah, the painful ring room wasn't a one-time deal. I need to periodically get hit by that green lightning or the probes will start eating me again.  
  
I could just picture Willow's reaction if she ever found out about me. She would be in seventh heaven wanting to know everything. Maybe I'll hold off on telling her.  
  
Course her surprise would have been nothing compared to mine when I found out the truth about N-tek. Turns out the sports company is just a front. Their real face is in anti-terrorism. They have agents all over the world stopping things that most people would never believe.  
  
Which brings me back to why I am standing in front of this door. I shake myself out of my reverie and put on Willow's resolve face as I open the door.  
  
Inside sits a sharply dressed African American man named Jefferson Smith. The slightly chubby man exudes a calm and cheerful demeanour. But I know better. I know that a cunning agent lies underneath.  
  
"I want to be an agent." I say simply as I walk towards his desk. If he was surprised he didn't show it.  
  
"No."  
  
"Come on Jeff! With what I can do you know I would be a big help. I just want to help people and this seems like the right way." I'd been practicing that speech.  
  
Jefferson stood up so we were eye to eye before he spoke. "No. As an agent Xander Harris can't go to school. Xander Harris can't take his girlfriend to the movies. Xander Harris can't have a normal life!"  
  
"Then Xander Harris is out of the picture!"  
  
Green electricity discharges from my body briefly as my skin tone darkens slightly. I wave a hand over my face as my eyes change from the normal brown to a deep blue. My hair changes from its usual darkness to a blonde.  
  
As I stare at him I know that these next words will change my future and forge my destiny.  
  
"Call me Max Steel." 


End file.
